In recent years, Impact Wrestling has done impressive work in dispelling its old, mostly negative reputation from its days as TNA, and is now a strong promotion with a consistent quality and an impressive roster. One of the big standouts of the roster is “The Walking Weapon” Josh Alexander, who managed to reach the top of the company to become Impact World Champion.
However, these days Impact Wrestling is a lot more under-the-radar than it used to be during its peak eras, so there are many mainstream wrestling fans who likely don’t know much about Josh Alexander. Let’s take a look at his whole career, including his partnership with “All Ego” Ethan Page.
10 Longtime Friends With Ethan Page
Trained by Canadian veteran and former Impact Wrestling performer Johnny Devine, Josh Alexander made his in-ring debut in 2005. It was in the Canadian indie Alpha-1 Wrestling in the early 2010s that he first met Ethan Page, who convinced Alexander to form a tag team with him on the basis that Pro Wrestling Illustrated rankings for tag teams was limited to 50, while the PWI rankings for singles wrestlers was 500, so there would be less competition to make the top tag team rankings.
9 The Origin Of His Headgear
One thing that sets Josh Alexander apart from other wrestlers on a visual level is his wearing of amateur wrestling headgear in matches. While it certainly fits his Kurt Angle-esque shooter persona, it also had a very real function at first. In 2013, Alexander had such bad cauliflower ear that he needed his ear to be removed, and thus began wearing the headgear to protect his ear after it had been reattached. Fans were quick to take notice of the headgear, and on one occasion chanted “headgear” repeatedly during a Ring of Honor show Alexander wrestled on — ultimately ruining Kevin Steen’s farewell ceremony before he left for WWE.
8 Wrestled In PWG and ROH
Working under the team name Monster Mafia, Josh Alexander and Ethan Page complimented one another well, with Alexander functioning as the muscle and Page being the mouthpiece. After impressing on the Canadian indies, Monster Mafia would head into the United States and wrestle for big-time indies like Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.
In ROH, Monster Mafia would have matches with reDRagon and others, while in PWG they’d take on the Young Bucks, the World’s Cutest Tag Team, and the Beaver Boys, and end up capturing the Tag Team Championship, albeit very briefly.
7 Nearly Retired In The 2010s
Josh Alexander spent a couple dealing with a neck injury that nearly put an end to his career, first sustaining it in 2013, healing up, and then hurting it again while wrestling reDRagon in ROH months later. After receiving spinal fusion surgery, got hurt again in 2015, and was told that he needed another surgery and had to retire. However, he found out that his second surgery ended up fixing some complications from the first surgery, and was able to rehab and eventually return to the ring.
6 Married To Jade Chung
In 2016, Josh Alexander married Jennifer Chung, who had entered the pro wrestling business way back in 2003 under the name Jade Chung. Over the years, Chung has worked as a pro wrestler and manager for promotions like ROH, PWG, IWA Mid-South, and Border City Wrestling, which was run by future Impact boss Scott D’Amore. As a valet, she’s managed groups like The Embassy and Generation Next in ROH, as well as Scorpio Sky and the tag team of Joey Ryan and Scott Lost in PWG. She’s also made appearances on Impact Wrestling alongside her husband.
5 Reunited With Ethan Page On Impact
By 2018, both Josh Alexander and Ethan Page were part of Impact Wrestling, albeit initially as separate singles stars. Josh Alexander started off as a jobber on Impact’s minor Xplosion before signing a deal and becoming an active part of the roster, while Page had debuted in 2017 as Abyss’ kayfabe cousin Chandler Park before becoming part of the X Division under his normal ring name. In 2019, the two finally reunited as a heel tag team and adopted a new name, The North.
4 Two-Time Impact World Tag Team Champion
After forming The North, it was only about four months before Josh Alexander and Ethan Page reached the top of the tag team division, defeating Santana and Ortiz (as LAX) to capture their first Tag Team Championship in Impact. Their inaugural reign would last 383 days before they dropped the belts to the Motor City Machine Guns.
However, three months later The North would win back their belts from Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley, holding the belts for only 21 days before losing them to The Good Brothers on their first defense.
3 X Division Champion
After their tag title loss, Josh Alexander and Ethan Page had a break-up angle, with Page soon leaving for All Elite Wrestling. Now a solo wrestler again, Alexander quickly turned babyface and competed in the X Division, eventually defeating Ace Austin and TJP in a three-way match to capture Austin’s X Division Championship. Over the course of this run, he proved to be a total workhorse, defending the belt in several standout matches including an impressive effort against Chris Sabin, an Ultimate X match, and a 60-minute Iron Man match against TJP.
2 Used Option C To Capture The Impact World Title
The X Division Title comes with a rule called Option C, which allows for the champion to vacate their title in exchange for a shot at the Impact World Championship. Since the rule was introduced in 2012, only six wrestlers have invoked it, including Josh Alexander, who issued his challenge to Christian Cage after Cage defended the World Title against Ace Austin at Victory Road 2021. One month later, at Bound for Glory, Alexander was able to defeat Cage to capture his first Impact World Championship.
1 Two-Time Impact World Champion
Unfortunately, Josh Alexander’s first World Title reign lasted mere minutes, as Moose decided to cash in his Money in the Bank-esque Call Your Shot opportunity to dethrone Alexander during his post-match celebration with his family. After wrestling in the midcard, Josh Alexander returned to the main event scene to challenge Moose for the belt, kicking off an intense feud that came to an end with Alexander’s victory at Rebellion. Since then, Alexander has proven himself as a successful fighting champion, defending the belt against an impressive array of opponents including Eric Young, Tomohiro Ishii, Joe Doering, and Jacob Fatu.